S.C. court affirms conviction of I-95 attacker

COLUMBIA -- The S.C. Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a man who targeted a family that was stranded while traveling on Interstate 95.

On a June evening in 2010, a husband and wife were driving through Colleton County on I-95, because they were moving to Florida.

The woman's mother followed behind pulling a U-Haul trailer. When that vehicle overheated, both pulled over to wait for a tow truck.

That's when two men, including passenger David Jakes, noticed the stranded motorists. The driver identified them as an "easy lick," according to the court decision.

Jakes, whose face was mostly covered, jumped out of the backseat holding a firearm, and yelled at the women, "Get up, pretty lady."

The husband, who had his own gun, stood up from behind his vehicle with his weapon drawn, and told Jakes to leave them alone.

Instead Jakes aimed his firearm, according to the court decision. So the husband shot him repeatedly. Jakes crawled back to his accomplice's vehicle, and they left.

None of the three family members were hurt.

Jakes was convicted of assault and battery, attempted armed robbery, and possession of a weapon while committing a violent crime. He had appealed his conviction on the grounds that one of the jurors should have been thrown out because she was marriedto a Colleton County reserve deputy.

Jakes said he would have allocated his juror strikes differently if he'd had the information. But the court rejected the appeal on various grounds, including that the juror never tried to keep her husband's deputy status a secret.

Wednesday's decision suggested the clerk of court had omitted that detail from a jury summary, but the court said lawyers have the ability to read directly from information provided by jurors.